What’s the story?
Dean Ambrose may have been kept off this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in order to sell the impact of Baron Corbin’s forklift attack the week before, but it was The Lunatic Fringe who came out following 205 Live to take on The Lone Wolf in an Intercontinental Championship match. Ambrose picked up the win after hitting Corbin with Dirty Deeds, sending the fans in Pittsburgh home happy after a long night.
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In case you didn’t know
Ambrose and Corbin are seemingly on course to do battle over the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 33, but with less than three weeks to go until the Ultimate Thrill Ride the match is yet to be made official. On last week’s episode of SmackDown Live Corbin lured Ambrose into a backstage attack, an attack that ended when The Lone Wolf lowered a the fork of a forklift onto a prone Ambrose.
Corbin challenged Ambrose to a title match at the Show of Shows on last night’s blue brand episode, with the former WWE Champion expected to respond next week.
The heart of the matter
SmackDown Live ended with Shane McMahon staggering out and informing the WWE Universe that AJ Styles now has an opponent for WrestleMania 33, following on from The Phenomenal One’s brutal attack on the SD Live Commissioner earlier in the evening. With Styles removed from the building and the WWE Championship feud between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton focused on events outside the ring for now, Ambrose and Corbin was the biggest match available for the live crowd to enjoy following the taping of 205 Live.
WrestleMania season ostensibly leads to physical altercations being held back in favour of the big show and dark segments are no different. Last week’s post-SmackDown segment saw Dean Ambrose and John Cena fight off The Miz and Baron Corbin instead of an actual match, and this week’s RAW was followed by a scuffle between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman leading to a match next Monday night.
The Pittsburgh crowd can count themselves lucky to have seen a full dark match, and it can also be viewed as Ambrose and Corbin still needing to work out some things ahead of their presumed battle at WrestleMania 33.
What’s next?
Ambrose is likely to respond to Corbin’s challenge on next week’s episode of SmackDown Live as the WrestleMania 33 card takes its final form. The addition of Ambrose vs. Corbin (along with the presumed Seth Rollins vs. Triple H match) will take WrestleMania 33 to an unprecedented 13 matches, although it is as yet unclear which bouts will take place on the pre-show.
Author’s take
Corbin’s relative inexperience means that giving him enough chances to go through things with Ambrose ahead of the big show can only be positive. The match between the two could well end up being the sleeper match of the night, with Ambrose looking to make amends for last year’s snooze-fest with Brock Lesnar and Corbin looking to make a big statement on the biggest stage in professional wrestling. Putting the two against each other in dark matches is without doubt, the best move for the time being.
